MCB REPORT

December 1, 2006

MICHIGAN REHAB CONFERENCE

The Michigan Rehabilitation Conference (MRC) was held at the Grand Traverse Resort, November 15-17, with a theme this year of "Moving Forward: Navigating the Road Ahead." There were over 70 break-out sessions reflecting the diversity of interests in the rehab field. The Michigan Rehabilitation Conference provided an excellent opportunity for rehabilitation professionals to gain knowledge of new and innovative ideas in the field and to explore collaborative opportunities, networking with old acquaintances and community partners.

A number of MCB staff attended the three day conference which featured several topics on issues relating to service delivery to persons with disabilities. In addition, MCB participated in three presentations:

-Janis Benstead, rehabilitation counselor in the Lansing Regional Office and Darlene Karnes, from Capitol Area Center for Independent Living presented on "MCB/CIL Partners on the Road to Progress," which focused on the importance of developing partnerships with community agencies in order to enhance opportunities for persons with disabilities to become self-sufficient, socially independent and competitively employed in an ever changing society.

-Debbie Wilson, rehabilitation counselor in the Flint Office along with the other members of the Cultural Diversity Committee, presented on "Transcending Barriers to Multi-Cultural Communication." The presentation focused on methods and procedures regarding outreach to unserved and underserved blind and visually impaired populations in Michigan. The presentation provided the audience with avenues to increase effective outreach activities to the unserved and underserved populations. A video entitled "Tale of O" demonstrated the need to understand cultural differences.

-Sherry Gordon, acting manager for the West Region and Jennipher Wiebold, professor at Western Michigan University presented on "Are you Blind to Ethics?" and "Ethical Thinking Helps Improve Counseling Strategies." This session defined the five ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, fidelity, justice and non-maleficence. They demonstrated how the five ethical principles are used in decision making. The second session emphasized the point of ethical thinking in a counseling relationship. These two sessions on ethics enabled the participants to evaluate their principles as they work with consumers.

The conference offered several sessions on transitioning from school to work, mentoring and employment outcomes. There were other sessions of considerable interest to individuals that work to assist persons with disabilities in obtaining self-sufficiency and integration within their communities and which were of great benefit to rehabilitation counselors and rehabilitation professionals.

Each year several of the staff from the Michigan Commission for the Blind attend the conference which provides an opportunity for staff to obtain continuing education units and maintain their professional credentials. The conference also enabled new staff to learn and gain information regarding ideas in the areas of transition, mentoring, employment and cultural diversity as it relates to working with consumers with disabilities.

The conference showcased over 50 vendors which included technology, community agencies, educational institutions, as well as entrepreneurs. The Michigan Commission for the Blind booth provided information to the conventioneers regarding the services that are available to the blind and visually impaired in Michigan. One of the highlights of the Commission for the Blind's booth was the Braille fortune cookie and the Braille alphabet card. The conventioneers were delighted to learn that they could read the Braille fortune by using the alphabet card.

MCB PARTICIPATES IN FALL CONSUMER CONVENTIONS

MCB commissioners and staff were well represented again at both consumer conventions held this fall by Michigan affiliates of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), with approximately 20 MCB Commissioners and staff attending each convention.

The Michigan Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired (MCBVI), affiliated with ACB, held its fall convention in Wyoming, October 6-8, with MCBVI President Michael Geno offering their keynote banquet speech. The MCBVI Convention also featured technology exhibits, presentations on new technology and a business meeting where two resolutions regarding the Michigan Commission for the Blind were adopted.

The NFB of Michigan's convention was held in Grand Rapids, November 10-12, and also included interesting topics and discussions, presentations on residential training centers and several resolutions regarding MCB. NFB's student division and parent's division also conducted meetings at the convention. The featured banquet speaker at the NFB Convention was Ron Brown, President of NFB's Indiana affiliate.

CSAVR/NCSAB CONFERENCES

The Fall Conferences of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) and the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB), took place November 12-17 in San Francisco. Director Pat Cannon and Assistant East Region Supervisor Beth White attended both conferences, with Training Center Director Christine Boone joining them for the NCSAB conference.

Some highlights from the CSAVR and NCSAB conferences include:

- John Hager, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) reported that the joint letter from Post Secondary Education and OSERS addressing the need for cooperation by the Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) in formalizing Memorandums of Understanding with state agencies was signed and sent out the week of November 13.

- Ed Anthony and Jennifer Sheehy of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) presented that in 2007, 17 states (23 agencies) will have their 107 review. Of the 80 state plans approved, 38 states will work on the following deficiencies: 22 states-IHE agreements, 19 states-State comprehensive needs assessment, 2 states-Individual Plan of Education (IPE) timeline, 4 states-Comprehensive System for Professional Development (CSPD) standards, 1 state-State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) establishment. For more information, see www.rsadev.net.

- Transition is a large focus for RSA with 4 specific areas of interest: dropout rate, regular education diploma vs. special education diploma, transition plans/services in Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and systems at the state level being coordinated. Only two percent of juniors and seniors in special ed receive a work experience. This needs to change.

- Some items being worked on for the future: forthcoming technology assistance needs assessment, developing a model statewide needs assessment, statewide transition grants under development and web pass training.

- Martin Gerry, Social Security, discussed managing their own risk as they are the largest insurance company. He recognizes the need to improve the system as they are facing a 1 trillion dollar deficit in the year 2020. The 2 groups that can make a difference are those who choose to continue to work rather than draw SS benefits and those who go off SS benefits to join the workforce. They will be looking at a way to improve the medical and vocational expertise by developing a network system of highly qualified consultants. Currently they spend 2 billion dollars a year to make eligibility decisions.

Congress mandated demonstrations to work with 20,000 participants testing a series of interventions and combinations of interventions to see if they can reduce the costs of turnover and returnees to the system. The 2 populations focused for these demonstrations are those with mental illness and those who have AIDS or are HIV positive. It is recognized that both of these groups need long term supports for the cyclic nature of their disability to enable them to maintain long term employment. The demonstrations taking place look at many factors such as transportation, attendant care, etc. that may need to be provided at specific times in their working life.

Mr. Gerry also responded to a question about long term supports for the mental retardation population being funded by SS and stated that they would be happy with a model of doing this, that they are clearly now working toward a partnership model and asking for evidence based data that can make the difference in all of the demonstrations. More info will be provided to state directors on the web page link for the demonstrations.

- J. Randolph Lewis presented from Walgreens explaining their commitment to provide 200 jobs in each new distribution center employing 600 specifically for individuals with disabilities. There are 14 centers nationwide currently and they hope to open a new one every 2 years. Walgreens has 5300 stores nationwide. More info can be found at www.walgreensoutreach.com.

- Independent Living - Concerns from states about the Occupational Therapists going after Medicare dollars to provide 9 hours of teaching services then grouping individuals all together or asking VR to pay for expensive low vision devices not necessarily needed.

- American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) reported they are working with pharmaceutical companies through a grant to provide accessible standards for medication labeling including a minimum 18 point font and exploring script talk. They hope to be finished in the spring with final recommendations for additions to labels as the actual prescription label is highly regulated and cannot be changed. AFB is also asking staff to go to their website for older blind to share tips/techniques that work.

- National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is sponsoring a Youth Slam July 30-August 4th at Johns Hopkins University for high school students at a cost of $200/student. See www.nfb.org for more information.

- Transition break out session discussed the new regulations with Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requiring teachers to write a summary of performance and exit survey/interview with students. Concerns were expressed of VR not being a part of that process and that there is no longer a requirement of testing every 3 years (i.e. Vocational, psychological, etc.) Information critical to VR during transition, as it will now be at special ed's discretion.

- NCSAB concerns: Randolph Shepard- joint proposal that has weakened influence on military dining sites- may be eliminated all together. VR wants Workforce Investment Act (WIA) infrastructure as a line item to protect VR funding. Over 50 million individuals with disabilities and VR resources are large enough to serve only 1 million. 17-20 million aged 18 to 60 have significant disabilities. Need to focus on funding and succession planning to be prepared to handle the large influx coming with the baby boomer retirements or returning to work or career changes later in life.

NPR/WGBH COLLABORATE ON ACCESSIBLE RADIO TECHNOLOGY

The Department of Education's National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation and Research has awarded a grant to National Public Radio (NPR) and WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) to develop accessible radio technology for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired. The Accessible Digital Radio Broadcast Services grant announced October 11, will help fund an anticipated three-year research and development project to prototype, field test and assess the cutting-edge radio technologies to serve the needs of people with sensory disabilities. NPR and NCAM are internationally recognized experts in digital radio technologies and accessible media service models.

"The time to address the needs of people with sensory disabilities is now," said Larry Goldberg, WGBH's Director of Media Access. "Considering those who are deaf or blind at birth, through trauma or illness, or baby boomers reaching retirement age over the next few years, the numbers of Americans with hearing or visual loss are expected to climb. It is crucial for us to address the unique needs of this growing population as we further develop HD radio services."

In creating radio technologies specifically geared to people with sensory disabilities, NPR and NCAM will bring together experts from broadcasting, academia and non-profit service organizations to best serve the needs of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired. The overall goal is to guide the design of prototype digital radios for evaluation by consumers with special needs. At the conclusion of the study period, the design criteria - to be developed with collective input from a representative cross section of disabled consumers - will be turned over to receiver manufacturers as best operating practice.

The project's total budget for the first year is $227,810. The Department of Education grant will cover 65 percent of the project costs for the first year, while NPR will fund the remaining 35 percent. Additional federal funding after the first year is dependent on congressional appropriations.

NPR and the NPR Member stations have a long history of pioneering inclusive access for people with sensory disabilities. More than 100 radio reading services for the blind operating in the United States are offered by NPR stations, providing the reading of text from daily news, books and magazines.

JUDGE RULES U.S. CURRENCY MUST BE ACCESSIBLE BY BLIND

On November 28, U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled that the U.S. government discriminates against people who are blind by printing money that all looks and feels the same, and he ordered the Treasury Department to find ways for the various denominations of bills to be identifiable without vision.

This decision was the result of a four-year legal battle. In 2002, the American Council of the Blind filed suit against the Department of the Treasury, saying that it violates section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act by failing to design and issue paper currency that is readily distinguishable by people who are blind or visually impaired.

The American Council of the Blind proposed several options for new currency, such as printing bills of different sizes, adding embossed dots or foil to the paper, or using raised ink. Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations. More than 100 countries use different sizes for different denominations, and the remaining countries use tactile features such as raised ink, perforations, or differences in texture.

Government attorneys had argued that forcing the Treasury Department to change the currency size or texture would make it harder to prevent counterfeiting. Judge Robertson disagreed, writing, "The fact that each of these features is currently used in other currencies suggests that, at least on the face of things, such accommodations are reasonable." He said the government was violating the federal Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in government programs.

The Treasury Department had no comment on the ruling Tuesday. The government has 10 days to decide whether to appeal.

Reaction to the court decision is clearly mixed with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) opposing the decision. NFB stated in a November 29 press release that, "This ruling puts a roadblock in the way of solving the real problem, which is the seventy percent unemployment rate among working-age blind Americans that severely limits our access to cash," and that "Given the urgent need for access to the kind of information that is required for success in America's information economy, the matter of identifying the denominations of paper bills is of relatively little concern."

The complete order is available on the website of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in an accessible pdf format at http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/opinions/2006/Robertson/2002-CV-0864~12:56:1~11-28-2006-a.pdf, or go to the home page at www.dcd.uscourts.gov and look under Court Opinions, then District Court Opinions, and then Most Recent Court Opinions. The opinion is titled "American Council of the Blind, et al. v. Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, Civil Action No. 2002-00864."

2007 MINI-ADJUSTMENT WORKSHOPS

The Michigan Commission for the Blind will conduct four Mini-adjustment Workshops in 2007, with the first program of the new year set for February 4-9 in Sterling Heights. MCB clients attending the Mini-Adjustment Program workshops are introduced to a variety of skills of blindness, such as cane travel, Braille, managing time and money, adaptive kitchen skills and other skills to enhance independence. MCB will conduct three additional, week-long Mini-Adjustment Programs in 2007, with plans currently being finalized for Big Rapids March 18-23, Escanaba May 20-24 and Ann Arbor in August. A fifth Mini program may be added if feasible. The Mini programs served 169 consumers in 2006.

CONSUMER SERVICES REPORT

During the past two months, the Consumer Services staff has continued to work with various community partners to promote the Commission's programs for persons who are blind and visually impaired. These activities have increased awareness of MCB's programs and services. As a result, referrals continue to increase in all programs. The public relations coordinator and staff have participated in job fairs and the Michigan Optometric event which allowed the Commission to share information and answer questions regarding the types of services that are available to individuals in Michigan who are experiencing visual impairments.

The MCB Vocational Rehabilitation program and the Independent Living program rehabilitation teachers dialogued and collaborated on ways to increase MCB's services to consumers and reduce duplication of travel by teachers in the same county. Several meetings were conducted and ideas were shared regarding best practices. The meetings resulted in a merger of the teachers' activities. The teachers will have the responsibility of providing teacher assessments and training to all individuals within their assigned territories. Some of the teachers will manage Youth Low Vision cases and provide the necessary documentation to service those students in their assigned territories. The goals and objectives of the teacher merger are to increase timeliness of services, reduce duplication of travel, to increase outcomes and reduce the category of homemakers. The teachers received initial training regarding their new duties at their last meeting in November. The new teacher services will begin on December 1, 2006. The managers will monitor the progress closely to provide any needed assistance to the staff and to make adjustments as warranted.

During the last two months, several changes have occurred within the Consumer Services program. MCB has hired two new contractual staff and two new state employees. In the Grand Rapids office, Marcia Beare was hired through Saginaw Valley Rehabilitation Center, Inc. (SVRC) as a full-time counselor and Patricia Angerman was hired through SVRC as a part-time teacher. In the Lansing Regional office, Lisa Kamkondo was hired as a rehabilitation counselor, a permanent State employee position. She formerly worked for MCB as a contract counselor through SVRC. Janis Benstead has accepted a position with the federal government and Nichole Wright was hired to begin on December 4th to fill Janis's position. Danielle Smith will cover Lisa Kamkondo's old caseload as a rehabilitation coordinator. Renee Vredevoogd resigned leaving a vacancy for a counselor in the Detroit office. Further, Rose Dunlap-Gist has also resigned her position as Independent Living specialist in the Gaylord office. Personnel actions are being initiated to obtain permission to fill these positions.

The Consumer Services staff are to be commended for their great work in nominating candidates for the MCB Honor Roll awards this year. MCB will honor consumers, employers and community partners at the Commission meeting, December 11. There was an excellent pool of candidates submitted which made it difficult to select the awardees; therefore, it was decided that certificates of appreciation will be given to candidates not selected for an award.

TRAINING CENTER REPORT

The new director of the MCB Training Center, Christine Boone, began her employment on October 9. During her first month on the job, Ms.

Boone made it a priority to meet with every member of the MCB Training Center staff, in order to get to know the people behind the program. Ms. Boone reports that her meetings were really enjoyable, as well as enlightening and productive.

The Training Center hosted an outstanding technology workshop on the 20th and 21st of November. This event was an enormous success, thanks to the dedication and hard work of the planning committee. Approximately 50 people took advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the newest developments in access technology. Participants could learn about surfing the internet, using an accessible GPS, using alternative means to read newspapers and periodicals which have not been available in the past, using MS Word, and a host of other excellent courses. When they were not in class, attendees were able to visit a variety of exhibits, featuring the technology they were learning about, and much more besides.

MCBTC wishes to thank all of those who served as instructors, for the thorough yet understandable instruction they provided, and the vendors who came to Kalamazoo to display their wares. At an event such as this, vendors do much more than simply showing off the items they have to sell. They make it a practice to encourage visitors to test the technology they offer, even when this means that some on-the-spot instruction is necessary. Feedback from participants has been nearly universally positive. The Training Center staff look forward to hosting this opportunity again next year.

Training Center staff now comes together every two weeks for an all-staff meeting. This forum provides the opportunity to share information and discuss new ideas for the enhancement of Training Center programs. Work is in process to hire two new counselors for the Training Center, following the retirement of John Bose and the promotion of Roger Yake.

Center Director Christine Boone will be serving as an ambassador for the Hadley School for the Blind along with acting West Regional Manager, Sherry Gordon. Both women had the opportunity to spend two days at Hadley in early November, meeting other ambassadors and gathering information about Hadley's courses and programs. This school offers courses for blind persons, their families, and professionals working in the field of blindness education and rehabilitation. Courses are available through distance learning which, in this case, means much more than the usual internet-dependent process. Some classes are taught in the traditional distance learning format. Others however, are provided through correspondence. Students will study under an instructor who helps them through their lessons, grades their homework and supports their efforts via the Mail. Course materials are available in Braille, on tape or on CD. Hadley also now offers a full high school diploma program for those who never had the opportunity to graduate, and want more than a GED. The MCB has a long-standing tradition of working closely with Hadley. Many MCB customers, Training Center students and staff have completed countless courses through the years, and continue to use this valuable resource.

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES REPORT

As of November 28, MCB's budget is showing to be slightly overspent at two months into the budget cycle. Expenditures should be at 16 percent and the budget is reflecting 18 percent of funding expended. However, DLEG has required that MCB set up Purchase Orders (POs) for many of the contractual services. When the POs are established, the expenditures are set up as encumbrances and the funds are set aside to assure that the POs can be paid. So there are several large ticket expenditures that encompass the entire year that have already been accounted for in the budget. The Saginaw Valley contract that covers contractual teachers along with many of the staff reader/driver services are just a couple examples of POs that have yearly costs that are already factored in the budget. Although the budget has increased $1.6 million dollars from last year, increases in salaries, retirement, rent, and Training Center upkeep costs comprise a substantial portion of the increased revenue. In addition, the Independent Living Program has no federal increases for this Fiscal Year and there is no federal appropriation for Supported Employment at this time.

MCB has now moved to System7, the web based client tracking system. The Department of Information Technology (DIT) required that MCB move its client databases from their servers as they did not have room for them and said it was more cost effective to have the databases moved off site. MCB's current vendor for System7 (Libera) developed a proposal that allowed access to data from their servers. Not only is this more cost effective but it has allowed quick response from the developer to make changes and updates to MCB's system. This has been a great benefit when doing the switch over. As with most new systems, a few glitches with the system were encountered, but overall the switch went fairly well. The biggest problem encountered was with the Business Enterprise Progam (BEP) system. They have not yet completed all of the screens to move BEP to a web based system. Libera anticipates that BEP should be moved to the web based system right after the first of the year. In the meantime they must access their data remotely. This has been a challenge for the screen reading software. Screen reading software has been upgraded three levels and it is anticipated that will take care of the issues until that system gets moved over.

In response to MCB's October mailing to optometrists and ophthalmologists statewide, eye care professionals have contacted MCB to request a total of more than 1400 copies of the MCB Welcome brochure to distribute to their patients.

MCB Information Packets for new clients now include the Directory of Visually Impaired Services and a newly published brochure from Parents of Blind Children in Michigan. A brochure from Michigan Parents of Children with Visual Impairments will also be included once it becomes published.

Spanish and Arabic editions of the MCB Welcome brochure are expected to be available for distribution in January.

For the third year, MCB will have a booth at the annual conference of the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, this year titled "Driving Michigan's Economic Engine: Using Culture and Tourism to Fuel Community Prosperity," to be held December 7 at the Lansing Center. This event is a way to make tourism-related agencies, organizations and businesses aware of MCB's ability to provide consulting on issues related to accessibility and other ADA-related topics, as well as to provide information on MCB programs in general. The booth space has been provided to MCB at no charge.

Planning and indoor filming for the MCB Training Center video will take place this winter and spring. Outdoor filming is now scheduled for Spring 2007.

MCB has received several invitations to participate in events or provide presentations in 2007. In March, Pat Cannon will return to the Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University for his second annual presentation to optometry students who are about to graduate and become practicing optometrists, to provide them with information on MCB programs and services. MCB has been invited to participate in diversity and blindness-awareness activities at Oakland Community College in April, and the Genesee Intermediate School District has invited MCB staff to participate in its Differently Abled Expo on April 28 in Flint as an exhibitor and presenter.

MCB has been invited to participate in a training program sponsored by Michigan Rehabilitation Services (MRS) during the last week in November. At this time, about 10 MCB staff will be attending this program in one of the three locations around the state.

A meeting was held with Dr. Michael Leahy and two of his research staff from Michigan State University's Rehabilitation Counseling Program to begin plans for MCB to participate in the Project Excellence research MSU has carried out with MRS for the past few years. It is hoped to use their expertise to do various studies and surveys to help MCB improve services. Further discussions will be taking place over the next couple months to decide on priorities. Some topics discussed already include client satisfaction surveys - in general and at the Training Center, follow-up studies with 26 closures to confirm whether they remain employed, and statewide needs assessments.

BUSINESS ENTERPRISE PROGRAM REPORT

DLEG Auditors are finishing up the BEP Internal Audit. While they have not yet published the findings, the document should be received in the very near future. In addition, the operator audit should begin soon. DLEG Auditors have chosen to audit all BEP operators over the next four years beginning this fiscal year. This year they have randomly selected twenty five operators. The focus of their audit will be the financial aspect of the facilities.

Four new potential operators have successfully completed their vending stand training and it is anticipated that all four of these individuals will have locations quickly. Six to eight potential new students are ready for the April training. MCB's goal is to have all of the stands fully staffed by trained blind operators by the end of the Fiscal Year.

Commendations are due to the BEP Elected Operators Committee (EOC) Subcommittees. Each of these committees has been working hard to resolve issues and help upgrade MCB operator evaluations and surveys. They have been effective to partner with and have been very supportive in working on solutions to better the BEP program. MCB Board liaison to the EOC, Commissioner Dick Grant attended the last EOC meeting and has been going out in the field with staff to get a better understanding of the BEP system.